


Temae

by agirlnamedtruth



Category: Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Explicit Language, F/F, Post-Canon, Reunions, Unrequited Love, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-15
Updated: 2016-10-15
Packaged: 2018-08-22 13:00:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8286733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agirlnamedtruth/pseuds/agirlnamedtruth
Summary: Even after so many years, tea was still a performance.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt _Any: Any/Any - tea ceremony_ at [femslash100's drabbletag7](http://femslash100.livejournal.com/1812583.html).

Pumpkin looked away as Sayuri served her tea. Her delicate movements, the precise timing, the way she handled the fine bone china, it made Pumpkin feel like a silly little child again, her clumsy hands shaking as she took the cup, her voice too loud, too desperate as she thanked her. 

Falling awkwardly silent again, Pumpkin sipped her tea. She didn’t know how to act. Mother always liked her silent, Hatsuomo liked her submissive and doting, men liked her innocent and sweet, the Americans liked it when she giggled and said _fuck_ in her accent. But Sayuri, she didn’t favor any character she could play. None except maybe...

Pumpkin leaned over, knees tucked underneath her as she mimed picking up the tea pot, dramatically sweeping aside her imaginary kimono sleeve as she hollowed her cheeks, puckering her lips to match the shape of the red heart they used to wear. “Tea, Chiyo-Chan?”

For a moment, all that had passed seemed like one of the stories Chiyo would tell her about the world outside the okiya. But this wasn’t an ochaya, they weren’t geiko anymore, a cup of tea wasn’t otemae and every war was real, even the one for Sayuri’s attentions. The one she’d bitterly started and pitifully lost.

“I am sorry, Chiyo,” Pumpkin admitted, a white flag of surrender in the face of Sayuri’s home, her happiness, her husband.

“There is nothing to be sorry for,” Sayuri said, her forgiveness, her quiet acceptance of Pumpkin’s defeat, breaking her heart.

**Author's Note:**

> As of 01/01/18, I'm opting to disable comments. [More information here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13077201).


End file.
